SK.net has been fostering Berserk conversations online since 2000. One of the cornerstones of our community, and the reason we have been able to keep it to such a high standard, is that we have access to very reliable, 100% accurate translations.

Many have contributed to our Berserk translations over the years, but the one who's done the most is undoubtedly Puella. And not just translations of entire episodes, but titles, summaries, comments from Miura, both questions and answers in our 2009 interview with Miura and all those last-minute demands from Aazealh and Walter. Few are the things she does not participate in behind the scenes.

However, after more than 10 years and as many volumes, health problems and an increased workload make it difficult for her to hold the same pace, the same dedication she once did. Especially since as a professional translator, working on Berserk is essentially more work after she clocks out of work. Beyond that, there is also a feeling that maybe not many people really care. Some have expressed their gratitude, but they've never been given the chance to show more than that.

So we've decided to ask our community to assist in giving a little bit back to someone who's helped us tremendously over the past decade. It’s a way to show true appreciation for all her work, and to show that we care. The money we raise here will help ensure that we continue to have the best translations around for Berserk.

Why Should You Donate?

This fundraiser is for fans of all things SKnet. If you’ve enjoyed our forum and support what we stand for, we encourage you to donate. If you want to read a new Miura interview, we encourage you to donate. If you want to be able to read Miura’s earliest works, never before translated, we encourage you to donate. Finally, if you care about Puella and all that she’s done for the site, we encourage you to donate.

Translations are the rallying point for this cause. But it's also a chance to be showered with SKnet forum perks. So to sweeten the deal, we’re using this opportunity to roll out forum rewards that some members have asked for over the years, along with a few ideas we came up with in the process. I've never wanted to run a site with a paywall. That's why these rewards are structured as perks that add to the experience of browsing the forum, and don't limit features that are already there.

Everyone will benefit from the projects being funded. They won’t be placed in a “members only” area. By contributing and helping these projects come to life, particularly the yet-to-be-translated Miura interview, you will be helping every Berserk fan understand the series, and the creator, better.

These donations will recur monthly. You can cancel at any time. We chose Patreon as our funding service because translating Berserk episodes is an ongoing task. If you'd prefer to give a single donation, we have set up a PayPal account for this express purpose. Please note that one-time donations won't benefit from the pledge tiers below.

PLEDGE TIERS$1.00 or more per monthHey, money's tight. Not everyone can spare the big bucks. We understand, and as a small reward for your humble contribution, all donators will be mentioned by their chosen name on the SkullKast podcast.

$3.00 or more per monthOur second-level contributors unlock a golden Beherit icon to replace the green Beherits on their profile, signifying their premium member status. You will also unlock access to the SkullKast podcast 1 day early for all future episodes(+ all previous rewards)

$5.00 or more per monthThird-tier contributors unlock the previous rewards, plus a custom title to be added to their profile, reminding everyone that they're special. You will also have access to a fully functioning mobile version of the Skullknight.NET forum, currently in beta.(+ all previous rewards)

$7.00 or more per monthFor all fourth-tier contributors, in addition to the the previous rewards, Aazealh will send you a custom voice message of your choosing (keep it clean, folks!) to be heard by all your callers, or just by yourself alone in your bed at night. Marvel as he berates your friends, family members and business associates with his commanding French accent! Voice messages available in three languages (English, French, Korean).(+ all previous rewards)

$8.00 or more per month (Limited to 10)Limited Edition Grail Art Tier! This limited quantity tier is all about basking in some Grail art love. SKnet's own Berserk fanartist extraordinaire Grail will create one of the following for donators: a custom avatar drawing of their choice ; a larger colored drawing, perfect for a Desktop or phone background, or an animated signature like on Grail's profile.(+ all previous rewards)

$10.00 or more per monthTop-tier contributors can, in addition to everything else (except Grail's tier), join the SkullKast crew as a guest on an upcoming episode. They'll also have access to a special new emoticon made by Walter for contributors of this project.(+ all previous rewards, except the Limited Edition Grail Art Tier)

We hope everyone who's benefited from SKnet in the past will join in and help us reach our ambitious milestone dreams without making inhuman sacrifices. We will all benefit from these projects, and I'm very excited about where we could go from here. During the brainstorm sessions for this donation drive, we came up with some awesome concepts that we'd like to explore more once these translations are completed.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the thread!

Yeah, you're getting my money. I'd love to see Miura's previous interviews and ongoing translations on a regular basis. Can we submit additional interviews from Miura for translation as well so that we can build an archive?

What's this Miura interview and where did it come from? And how come we haven't heard about it until now?

There are several interviews, of varying lengths, that were never translated. It's not a secret, in fact I'm pretty sure I mentioned it on the forum in the past and maybe even gave some small nuggets of info from them.

Can we submit additional interviews from Miura for translation as well so that we can build an archive?

Why not, in truth it's just a matter of making it so that puella can take time away from work to do it. It wouldn't be completed overnight obviously but there's no reason it can't be done if enough funding is secured.

Also, when/how will we be getting our rewards for supporting? (It's more than the reward for me, I'm just honestly wondering when/how we'll get them?)

It will start early next month (essentially following Patreon's guidelines). The simpler rewards will be available right away, while the emoticon will probably take a little time to come. For other rewards like Grail's art or the podcast, there will be a progressive rollout where those who pledged first get their turn first.

Thanks to everyone who's contributed so far. Right out of the gate, I've been blown away by the support we've received. We're almost to our first milestone goal (the new Miura interview) and it's been under 24 hours.

Like Aazealh mentioned, the listed rewards will start to roll out early in November.

We'll be recording a podcast this weekend to digest all this news and talk about how we came up with everything, so look forward to that on Sunday-Monday.

I'm glad there's something I can do to help out Puella and the rest of the site. (At first I thought this was the old April Fool's joke from way back when, so I'm glad I read your post carefully, Walter.)

I'm glad there's something I can do to help out Puella and the rest of the site. (At first I thought this was the old April Fool's joke from way back when, so I'm glad I read your post carefully, Walter.)

You guys should know by now that we only pull big April Fools stuff on or close to April 1. Otherwise it's a foul. The only outlier was Aolsier, but that was more of a solid goof than a full on April Fool's gag. It's actually been a few years since we did anything...

You guys should know by now that we only pull big April Fools stuff on or close to April 1. Otherwise it's a foul. The only outlier was Aolsier, but that was more of a solid goof than a full on April Fool's gag. It's actually been a few years since we did anything...

Well, I got my humble pledge set up, which I plan to further fund with a little fundraising (such as selling off my vintage art of war statues if anyone's interested).

I think old-timers like me owe Puella the greatest debt of gratitude since we've been enjoying her work the longest, and if you've been following Berserk at any time in the last decade you've probably enjoyed it too. I love Puella's translations because they're so thoughtful and well annotated, so you're not just getting some shorthand for the sake of expediency or style, but a very clear and nuanced understanding of the sometimes complicated words, ideas and multiple meanings being conveyed. I also remember the days when Puella didn't only provide the translations (basically our most core purpose here, following and understanding Berserk), but almost single-handedly kept us up to date with the series itself on an ongoing basis! Basically, nobody can top that kind of long term contribution to the community. So, I'm grateful for this opportunity to finally pay her back for all the time, money and effort she's invested, not only in the series and its promotion, but in us and our enjoyment. I haven't said it enough, because before now I felt like I couldn't say it enough, but thank you again and thank you always, Puella!

Wow! That's very generous, Griff. And a cool idea on targeting the reimbursement level.

Well guys, we've officially hit our FIRST MILESTONE: the new Miura interview translation. Thanks so much to everyone who helped push us through our first goalpost in under four days. I've discussed the logistics of this particular project with Aaz and we're aiming for the end of 2014 for its completion, contingent on Puella's work schedule. We'll have more to share on this project once we get further along with it.

We listed a few milestones to get the project going, but ever since then, Aaz and I have been talking about all the other Berserk-related things we could do with the funding. We'll be sharing a few of these these on the podcast this week. If you have any questions about this whole project that you'd like to be read on the show, please either PM them to me or shoot me an email.

I think this interview is interesting. And it's a recent interview too.He didn't reveal new things though and mostly talked about the damned movies of course. However he did talk about how he drew the characters, how Adon is kind of an outdated character since he created him from the 80s to 90s...I'd like to put this into our list of interviews to be considered for translation.Of course, I won't translate the director's gibberish.

I think this interview is interesting. And it's a recent interview too.He didn't reveal new things though and mostly talked about the damned movies of course. However he did talk about how he drew the characters, how Adon is kind of an outdated character since he created him from the 80s to 90s...I'd like to put this into our list of interviews to be considered for translation.Of course, I won't translate the director's gibberish.

Again, a big thank you to all those who have donated so far! Your contributions will enable us to take on more projects to enrich the community beyond what has been possible so far.

To better reflect the scope of what we can do, we have decided to revise the milestones we propose in the following way:

$120 Translation of a Miura InterviewREACHED!$180 Translating NOA & Futatabi, Miura's early works ALMOST!$240 Translating all of Miura's comments in Young Animal NEW!$300 MORE Miura interviews! NEW!$360 Translating all of Gigantomakhia THE FAR FUTURE

We have lowered the requirement for NOA & Futatabi, and have added two new tiers. Check their detailed descriptions below!

Quote from: Translating all of Miura's comments in Young Animal

A project to translate every comment Miura made in Young Animal, from 1992-2014, set to be released once per week until completed.Kentarou Miura doesn't have a Twitter account, but he's been giving readers small nuggets of information about his life with every episodic release of Berserk for years now. Originally published in Young Animal, these brief comments shed light on what his activities and interests were at the time of each episode's release. That includes details on his personal life, his struggles with health, his views on world events, and his hobbies and interests. More than any interview, these small comments have given us a consistent window into his life and personality over the past 20+ years.When this milestone is reached, Puella will begin translating every single comment from Miura (all 337 as of this posting), to be released once per week until we are caught up.

And because we love you guys, here's a taste:

YA#1 of 1993: I don't even dare to dream about a trip to a foreign country but at least I would like to go to a spa once in my life.YA#2 of 1993: I always appreciate fan letters. I reply to those who want it.

Quote from: More Miura interviews!

Our first milestone will see puella translate one of Miura's interviews before the end of the year. Later on, depending on her availability and on Berserk's release schedule, she will try to do some more. With this second interview-oriented milestone, we guarantee that she will double the amount of Miura interviews she will translate. Where she would have done two, she will do four. Where she would have done three, she will do six (yes, there are that many untranslated interviews). And this will ensure that they are released more quickly too, as she will be able to set time aside specifically for that purpose.

We hope those will be as exciting to you guys as they are to us (you can tell I'm excited by the fact I did a color-coded recap ). As always, don't hesitate to give us feedback!

The Miura comments translation is pretty damned exciting, guys. I can't tell you how many times over the years that I wished we had a resource like that handy, since he's said so many interesting things. While some may be obscure, or dealing with series or creators we aren't familiar with, they also tell us things like what he's listening to, watching, reading and generally how he occupies his time independent of working like a dog for Berserk fans. And I've only seen a fraction of them. Getting them all will probably produce a ton more information than can be gleaned from any one interview.

Here's hoping we reach that goal!

Work on the benefits for donors is in progress. The emoticon is going to be pretty cool, I think.